Accountant recommendation threads inc local requests

[EinsteinTax]

@EinsteinTax. The contracting business is VAT registered. Would not being able to claim the tax from my customers, on the importing side, be offset by being able to claim the VAT back on the imported goods? From the .gov.uk website the VAT on imported goods is reclaimable via form c79

You're right - if you were VAT registered you would be able to reclaim any VAT paid on imported goods.

However, assuming you are in business to make a profit the input VAT you can reclaim on the goods you buy will not completely offset the output VAT you need to charge on the goods you sell.

Let me illustrate with an example. Imagine you buy goods for £60 (inclusive of VAT) and you sell them for £120.

If you were VAT registered you could reclaim £10 on your £60 (£50 + £10 VAT) purchases, but your £120 sale price would have to include VAT i.e. £100 + £20 VAT. You gross profit would be £100 - £50 = £50.

If you were not VAT registered you would be unable to reclaim the input VAT, but would also not need to charge VAT on sale price. Your gross profit in this situation would be simply £120 - £60 = £60.

You would be £10 better off not being VAT registered.

Your numbers will be different and there may be other factors to consider, but this is the general point I was making on VAT.

[cheesedoffcontractor]

One of the important factors to consider in this scenario is VAT.

Assuming your contracting business is VAT registered and you will be reselling to non-VAT registered consumers for the sideline, it might be sensible to create a separate business. If you resell through a new business you won't need to charge VAT (until turnover exceeds £85k), but if you operated through your contracting business you would need to charge VAT and would be more expensive to customers that are unable to reclaim the VAT.

It's worth a detailed discussion with an accountant though as the best option depends on your circumstances.

@NLUK. Read that blog entry. It helped a lot, thanks

@EinsteinTax. The contracting business is VAT registered. Would not being able to claim the tax from my customers, on the importing side, be offset by being able to claim the VAT back on the imported goods? From the .gov.uk website the VAT on imported goods is reclaimable via form c79

[EinsteinTax]

Am a ltd company contractor and am happy enough with my accountant but my needs have changed.

I’d like to continue working as an IT contractor through my ltd company but I’d like to do some importing from China and resell here in the UK for some additional income.

I’d like to put both through the one ltd company. The imported products wouldn’t be related to my core IT contracting work.

Can anyone give me a steer on an accountant who can process both of these income streams through the one ltd company?

Cheers

One of the important factors to consider in this scenario is VAT.

Assuming your contracting business is VAT registered and you will be reselling to non-VAT registered consumers for the sideline, it might be sensible to create a separate business. If you resell through a new business you won't need to charge VAT (until turnover exceeds £85k), but if you operated through your contracting business you would need to charge VAT and would be more expensive to customers that are unable to reclaim the VAT.

It's worth a detailed discussion with an accountant though as the best option depends on your circumstances.

[northernladuk]

Actually looking back it's a mix of advice. Some say you can, others play safe and say use another company so guess the devil is in the details.

[northernladuk]

Interesting blog from Maslins to have a look at.
http://www.chrismaslin.co.uk/tax-tip...line-business/

Maslins posts on here regularly so why not have a chat with him?

[cojak]

I would have thought there would be a few people who are doing something similar to what I’m hoping to do.

There are. I'm sure that one or two will turn up tomorrow.

[northernladuk]

From what I remember of similar threads they are often advised to do it through a separate company as well. Lemme see if I can find some.

[cheesedoffcontractor]

Have you had a chat with your current accountant to see if they can do it? Although they specialise in contractors they are still qualified and they still look at money coming in/out and taxation whatever you are doing. What is it you are doing that you think will be too complex for them?

I'd guess you would need to speak to them about how much as it might affect your SIC code carrying out two different trades through the same company amongst other things.

Have a chat to with them and see if they can accommodate this first before ditching them I'd say.

Those were my initial thoughts NLUK. I tried to get them on board but conversation ended with them suggesting I didn’t run this through the ltd company. No reasons were given why they gave that advice.

I’m currently with a firm that has its own online portal and the support is more the customer service representative type support rather than qualified accountants. I find it too hard to get to speak with an accountant with them already so I think I need to move on.

I would have thought there would be a few people who are doing something similar to what I’m hoping to do.

[northernladuk]

Am a ltd company contractor and am happy enough with my accountant but my needs have changed.

I’d like to continue working as an IT contractor through my ltd company but I’d like to do some importing from China and resell here in the UK for some additional income.

I’d like to put both through the one ltd company. The imported products wouldn’t be related to my core IT contracting work.

Can anyone give me a steer on an accountant who can process both of these income streams through the one ltd company?

Cheers

Have you had a chat with your current accountant to see if they can do it? Although they specialise in contractors they are still qualified and they still look at money coming in/out and taxation whatever you are doing. What is it you are doing that you think will be too complex for them?

I'd guess you would need to speak to them about how much as it might affect your SIC code carrying out two different trades through the same company amongst other things.

Have a chat to with them and see if they can accommodate this first before ditching them I'd say.

[cojak]

Am a ltd company contractor and am happy enough with my accountant but my needs have changed.

I’d like to continue working as an IT contractor through my ltd company but I’d like to do some importing from China and resell here in the UK for some additional income.

I’d like to put both through the one ltd company. The imported products wouldn’t be related to my core IT contracting work.

Can anyone give me a steer on an accountant who can process both of these income streams through the one ltd company?

Cheers

Bumped post - he asked nicely